Target hires first CEO from outside company

Publish Date: July 31, 2014

Target’s board of directors named retail and consumer products executive Brian Cornell as the company’s next chairman and CEO. He starts the job on Aug. 12. Cornell, 55, joins Target with more than 30 years of experience at some of the nation’s biggest retail and consumer product companies. As Target’s new CEO, Cornell’s top priorities will be accelerating the company’s performance and advancing Target’s omnichannel evolution.

Cornell most recently served as CEO of PepsiCo Americas Foods, where he oversaw the company’s global food business, the largest of PepsiCo’s four divisions. He was responsible for a portfolio that included Frito-Lay North America, Quaker Foods and all of PepsiCo’s Latin America food and snack businesses. Before joining PepsiCo in 2012, Cornell served as president and CEO of Sam’s Club, a division of Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. Cornell also held the position of CEO at Michaels Stores, Inc., and prior to that, executive vice president and chief marketing officer for Safeway.

“As we seek to aggressively move Target forward and establish the company as a top omnichannel retailer, we focused on identifying an extraordinary leader who could bring vision, focus and a wealth of experience to Target’s transformation,” said Roxanne S. Austin, interim non-executive chair of the board. “The Board is confident that Brian’s diverse and broad experience in retail and consumer products, as well as his passion for leading high performing teams, will propel Target forward.”

“I am honored and humbled to join Target as the first CEO hired from outside the company,” Cornell said, in a press release. “As we create the Target of tomorrow, I will focus on our current business performance in both the U.S. and Canada and on how we accelerate our omnichannel transformation.”